Guma's Uncle Wants His E-mail Exchanges with Mother

Lawyers for Thomas Kaplan, the uncle and business partner of missing philanthropist-tycoon Guma Aguiar, have filed legal papers indicating he wants a thorough investigation of what happened to Guma, who went missing two weeks ago.

According to Forbes.com, representatives of a company and trusts connected to Kaplan asked a federal judge last week to order electronic data and communications associated with email accounts, cell phones and computers belonging to Guma and his mother, Ellen Aguiar, be preserved because the trusts “have an interest in determining Aguiar’s whereabouts and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.” Judge Patricia Seitz on Friday granted the request, which extends to telecommunication service providers AT&T and AOL.

Kaplan’s lawyers noted that Ellen Aguiar "has indicated that she believes he may be alive but in a psychotic state.”

“I don’t believe Ellen knows where Guma is,” Robert Baron, Ellen Aguiar’s lawyer, said in a statement quoted by Forbes.com. “She is hopeful he’s alive, but her hope is diminishing daily.”

Ellen has been locked in a court fight with Kaplan, her brother, over allegations that Kaplan had her and her family improperly removed as potential beneficiaries of trusts that held about $2 billion. Kaplan has been battling Ellen and Guma Aguiar in courts for years.

Ellen and Aguiar’s wife, Jamie Aguiar, have both tried to secure control of about $100 million of Aguiar’s assets and both attended a Florida state court hearing last Thursday.